THE CITADEL & THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM (2 IN 1 BOOK) ~ A.J. CRONIN

The Citadel is a 1983 BBC television adaptation written by Don Shaw from A. J. Cronin's novel The Citadel, which was originally published in 1937. It was produced by Ken Riddington. Other television versions include a British (1960) and two Italian (1964 & 2003) adaptations. Dr. Cronin drew on his experiences practising medicine in the coal mining communities of the South Wales Valleys -as he had for The Stars Look Down two years earlier. Specifically, he had researched and reported on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and lung disease in the town of Tredegar. He had also worked as a doctor for the Tredegar Medical Aid Society at the Cottage Hospital, which served as the model for the National Health Service.Cronin once stated in an interview, "I have written in The Citadel all I feel about the medical profession, its injustices, its hide-bound unscientific stubbornness, its humbug ... The horrors and inequities detailed in the story I have personally witnessed. This is not an attack against individuals, but against a system."The BBC dramatisation stars Ben Cross as Dr. Andrew Manson and Clare Higgins as Christine Manson. It was broadcast in the US from November 1983 until January 1984 by PBS television as part of Masterpiece Theatre.The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1941 novel by A. J. Cronin. Spanning six decades, it tells the story of Father Francis Chisholm, an unconventional Scottish Catholic priest who struggles to establish a mission in China. Beset by tragedy in his youth, as a missionary Chisholm endures many years of hardship, punctuated by famine, plague and war in the Chinese province to which he is assigned. Through a life guided by compassion and tolerance, Chisholm earns the respect of the Chinese-and of fellow clergy who would mistrust him-with his kindly, high-minded and courageous ways. .as Father Francis Chisholm, a role which earned him his first Oscar nomination.a mission in China.